[Reader-list] Fwd: Climate Change 'a moral issue'

[Nagraj Adve]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kabir Khan <kabirkhan1989 at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 10:16:38 +0530


*http://dawn.com/2012/04/09/climate-change-a-moral-issue/


Climate change ‘a moral issue’*
 By Severin Carrell | From the
Newspaper<http://dawn.com/author/dawnnewspaper/>| 6 hours ago
   <http://dawn.com/2012/04/09/climate-change-a-moral-issue/print/> 0



*AVERTING the worst consequences of human-induced climate change is a
“great moral issue” on a par with slavery, according to the leading Nasa
climate scientist Prof Jim Hansen.*

He argues that storing up expensive and destructive consequences for
society in future is an “injustice of one generation to others”.

Hansen, who will on Tuesday be awarded the prestigious Edinburgh Medal for
his contribution to science, will also in his acceptance speech call for a
worldwide tax on all carbon emissions.

In his lecture, Hansen will argue that the challenge facing future
generations from climate change is so urgent that a flat-rate global tax is
needed to force immediate cuts in fossil fuel use. Ahead of receiving the
award — which has previously been given to Sir David Attenborough, the
ecologist James Lovelock, and the economist Amartya Sen — Hansen said that
the latest climate models had shown the planet was on the brink of an
emergency. He said humanity faces repeated natural disasters from extreme
weather events which would affect large areas of the planet.

“The situation we’re creating for young people and future generations is
that we’re handing them a climate system which is potentially out of their
control,” he said. “We’re in an emergency: you can see what’s on the
horizon over the next few decades with the effects it will have on
ecosystems, sea level and species extinction.”

Now 70, Hansen is regarded as one of the most influential figures in
climate science; the creator of one of the first global climate models, his
pioneering role in warning about global warming is frequently cited by
climate campaigners such as former US vice president Al Gore and in earlier
science prizes, including the $1m Dan David prize. He has been arrested
more than once for his role in protests against coal energy.

Hansen will argue in his lecture that current generations have an
overriding moral duty to their children and grandchildren to take immediate
action. Describing this as an issue of inter-generational justice on a par
with ending slavery, Hansen said: “Our parents didn’t know that they were
causing a problem for future generations but we can only pretend we don’t
know because the science is now crystal clear.

“We understand the carbon cycle: the CO2 we put in the air will stay in
surface reservoirs and won’t go back into the solid earth for millennia.
What the Earth’s history tells us is that there’s a limit on how much we
can put in the air without guaranteeing disastrous consequences for future
generations. We cannot pretend that we did not know.”

Hansen said his proposal for a global carbon tax was based on the latest
analysis of CO2 levels in the atmosphere and their impact on global
temperatures and weather patterns. He has co-authored a scientific paper
with 17 other experts, including climate scientists, biologists and
economists, which calls for an immediate six per cent annual cut in CO2
emissions, and a substantial growth in global forest cover, to avoid
catastrophic climate change by the end of the century.

The paper, which has passed peer review and is in the final stages of
publication by the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, argues that a global levy on fossil fuels is the strongest tool
for forcing energy firms and consumers to switch quickly to zero carbon and
green energy sources. In larger countries, that would include nuclear power.
*— The Guardian, London*